Track Listing

1. Glass, Concrete and Stone
2. The Man Who Loved Beer
3. Au Fond Du Temple Saint
4. Empire
5. Tiny Apocalypse
6. She Only Sleeps
7. Dialog Box
8. The Other Side Of This Life
9. Why
10. Pirates
11. Civilization
12. Astronaut
13. Glad
14. Uni Di Felice, Eterea
15. Lazy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27993 in Music
• Released on: 2004-03-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
With 2003's box set stirring old feelings for Talking Heads' intelligent and angular pop music, Grown Backwards could not arrive at a more appropriate time. After years of experimenting with salsa and strings, David Byrne returns with a cohesive record that catches him at his incohesive best: the stream-of-consciousness lyrics, the sly rhythms, the unexpected bursts of melody. Like recent works by Elvis Costello and David Bowie, Grown Backwards represents a return to form, particularly on leftfield songs such as "Tiny Apocalypse" and "Dialog Box", which could have easily fit alongside the classics on his former band's retrospective. Meanwhile, a duet with Rufus Wainwright on a cover of Bizet's "Au Fond du Temple Saint" points the way forward. --Aidin Vaziri

CD Description
Discounting David Byrne's 2003 soundtrack recording LEAD USNOT INTO TEMPTATION, GROWN BACKWARDS can be seen as the third installment in a trilogy that began with 1997's FEELINGS and found the former Talking Head moving away from his world-music obsession towards a kind of eclectic, intellectual chamber-pop. This '04 release is probably the least international-sounding of any of Byrne's solo albums, and while it contains elements of electronica, R&B, jazz, and rock, it's also his most unassuming recording in some time.
Elegant, artful string arrangements grace much of the material, and Byrne's previous polyrhythmic approach is supplanted by a more cerebral, European sensibility. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the inclusion of two honest-to-God opera tracks, Bizet's "Au Fond du Temple Saint" (with assistance from fellow opera buff Rufus Wainwright) and Verdi's "Un de Felice, Eterea". To his credit, Byrne manages to make these works his own, and along with a markedly more politicised lyrical approach on some of his own compositions, they mark the most significant changes to his artistic template.

Customer Reviews

Unique
In contrast with his last chart hit "Lazy" David Byrne is backed by a string section and a variety of classical instruments in the majority of tracks on this album, which also contains two traditional classical renditions! It's certainly not his most upbeat, although as usual with Byrne it's full of great lyrics and music. The opening track, "Glass, Concrete & Stone" is typically weird subject matter. Other standout tracks for me are "The man who loved beer", the rather funky "Dialog box" & "The other side of this Life" with it's uplifting strings. But it's all good. David Byrne creates the type of songs that only he does - which makes it difficult to describe his music. I highly recommend seeing him in concert. If you've liked his post Talking Heads stuff in the past I'm sure you'll dig this...

The Emotional Breadth Of A Mature Artist
David Byrne writes, on the enclosed booklet as a way of explaining how this album was conceived, that "Sometimes it seems as if things, like writing a group of songs or getting groceries, are dealt with more or less on a day-to-day basis, as they come up, each reacted to only at the time as they demand to be, and that there is no plan or direction or overall consideration of where things are leading. But of course that's not true -there are little decisions made every minute, and the cumulative effect is to define what later appears to be a conscious plan, with an emotional center and compass."
Byrne's words may very well describe your listening experience, after you play this album a few times, as it has articulated my own experience. My first impression was that of a gathering of songs without much of a common theme neither musically nor lyrically, ranging from opera arias to some choice covers and several examples of Byrne's quirky brand of songwriting.
Yet, upon further listening, these songs grow on you and grow together steadily, without anything resembling forcefulness but rather as another great showing of Byrne's emotional breadth and ability to re-interpret and bring new life to material very different than his.
Gorgeous examples of his power as an interpreter of other people's work are "Glass, Concrete and Stone" which just gets more and more moving with each chorus; the wonderful version of Lambchop's "The Man Who Loved Beer" who has probably moved me even more than the original Kurt Wagner's rendition; and the stunning version of Bizet's "Au Fond Du Temple Saint" which Byrne and Rufus Wainwright seem to have been born to sing together.
And this only the first three songs. You can also count on "Empire" -which I consider an important piece if for no other reason than intelligently and ironically condemning the certain political madness being currently passed as patriotism- as well as "Tiny Apocalypse" or "She Only Sleeps" which are pure Byrne magic.
Whether you come to this album expecting some trademark Pop "Byrnesque" or some new beautiful surprises from a man who continues to explore new paths, you will be fully satisfied.

David Byrne's solo career comes of age!
This album is absolutely superp. As a longstanding lover of the Talking Heads I bought David's earlier solo offerings religeously to find that while each CD had one or two gems Mr Byrne getting his 'world music' rocks off was not really my thing. As an avid CD collector after several 'disappointments' I relegated Mr. Byrne to my "musician I respect who I will buy their stuff when it hits the bargain racks (e.g. Frank Black's solo outings) as there will always be something I will enjoy as part of an Ipod playlist" category. So it was to my dismay to listen to Grown Backwards to find that for a few measley pounds I have deprived myself unnecessarily of the privelige of listening to one of the best albums I have heard in this decade. As far as I am concerned this album is Byrne's coming of age where he has finally learnt to embrace different musical styles on his terms and not theirs. Bravo Monsieur Byrne!